The military formation crashed into Ying Ge and Zi Dian with unparalleled might.
The crimson scimitar and the longsword named "Purple Lightning" easily struck Ren Dongzhan, but the latter's face was as hard as iron, and his expression didn't even change.
Strengthened by the Blood Knight Commander, the charging Dark Knights displayed an unimaginably powerful force of impact.
Over a dozen consecutive collisions knocked Zi Dian back to the point of coughing up blood, and he could only hurriedly disengage from the battle formation and look down with shock.
One should know that his sword energy wasn't just a normal sword technique. Rather, it contained a powerful law that belonged exclusively to Void Cutters, yet it was actually shattered by the charge of a group of Prodigious Realm soldiers.
On the other side, as Ying Ge pulled her scimitar out of Ren Dongzhan, the charging battle formation also reached her.
In the end, she was still a top-notch Void Cutter, and at this most critical juncture, her body actually loosened up as her entire body turned into blood, scattering onto the ground.
This was her very final life-saving trump card. She would be able to revive herself as long as even a drop of blood remained.
But it was rather unfortunate that the enemy Ying Ge ran into this time held the class of Blood Knight Commander.
As soon as he saw his opponent turn into blood, Ren Dongzhan gave a sharp tug on his horse's reins, whereupon the Dark Knights behind him stopped on the spot without taking a half step more.
The image looked incomparably bizarre, with all the knights stopping in an instant, as if inertia didn't exist at all.
Ren Dongzhan planted his lance on the ground, and a bright light emitted from the crimson armor in front of his chest, to the extent that the strange patterns painted on it gradually lit up.
Attracted by the crimson light from the armor, all the blood in the surroundings began to spontaneously rise up and head in Ren Dongzhan's direction.
Even Red Tail, who was in the back, felt a suction force, as if all the blood in her body was about to be pulled out, let alone Ying Ge, who bore the brunt of the attack.
"No!" Zi Dian seemed to realize something and screamed furiously, his entire body rushing towards Ren Dongzhan like he'd gone mad.
Ren Dongzhan's face was expressionless, yet he seemed to suddenly sense something and glanced up at the sky in confusion.
All the way at the end of the horizon, a palm print laced with gold and purple seemed to be descending.
...
Deep in the starry sky in Red's palace, one guard after another appeared from the void, fiercely stabbing at Gu Nan, only to disappear an instant later.
"Quite the interesting guards, but they can only delay your defeat." One of these unpredictable attacks stabbed Gu Nan in the stomach, but his expression didn't even change.
Red's true power lay in the fact that she could buff her subordinates—that was the greatest use of her astral world's power.
That was why she had a thousand guards in her palace back then, only to be betrayed by Qian Han and her guards slaughtered thanks to his schemes.
Now, however, she changed her mindset and made all the guards hidden servants. Under the red curtain's enhancement, their offensive and defensive abilities increased dramatically, becoming the most terrifying assassins.
It had to be said that even against Zuo Zuo, her current method was far more effective than her former method, but it was a pity that she was now dealing with Gu Nan.
Thud!
Another knife stabbed into the right side of Gu Nan's stomach, and this time, Gu Nan finally grabbed the opportunity and suddenly stretched out his right hand and punched the space directly in front of him.
A cloud of bloody mist exploded violently in front of him as half of a corpse fell out of the void; it was the guard who had most of his body blasted apart.
At the same time, the wound on Gu Nan's body healed rapidly, completely recovering in the blink of an eye.
Normal Star Ruler invasions prioritized finishing the battle in the shortest time possible, as they couldn't possibly fight a war of attrition on the enemy's own turf, which was equivalent to courting death.
But Gu Nan was only using his physical body to fight, which allowed him to choose the strategy to stall the opponent while his divine servants went on the offensive and invaded territories—which was his goal to begin with.
But this time, Red was very calm. "I prepared three thousand guards for you, so you can take your time playing with them… I hope those subordinates of yours can survive against Wu Gui."
What Gu Nan didn't expect was for Red's intentions to be the same as his. As long as Gu Nan, the strongest combatant, was stalled, Wu Gui could completely wipe out his underlings.
Gu Nan's movements suddenly stopped for a second, which caused him to be stabbed two more times, but he didn't care.
"Thanks for the reminder." He nodded at the deepest part of the palace, then tanked the assassination attempts of countless guards as he forcibly opened a spatial passage and slowly walked in.
...
Wu Gui's palm strike landed on Indigo Mountain, instantly slapping Ren Dongzhang into the ground and interrupting the blood extraction.
The droplets of blood belonging to Ying Ge took advantage of that opportunity to escape and manifested her form next to Wu Gui, gasping for air with an expression full of fright.
She never imagined that the other party would be so decisive. If she was given a chance to do it over again, she would never choose to attack Ren Dongzhan again.
"Are you alright?" Wu Gui's gaze lingered on Ying Ge for a moment and asked blandly.
Ying Ge shook her head slightly as she sheathed her scimitar. "I'm fine… Hmm? He's still alive."
Ren Dongzhan was still crushed flat on the ground, but a few drops of blood were converging towards the center.
The next moment, the blood swelled up violently, transforming into a new Ren Dongzhan who swiftly mounted his horse.
"Wait!" A voice interjected. Red Tail had rushed over.
She cast Ren Dongzhan a glance, signaling for him to back off for the time being. Red Tail was a person who came from Star Realm and was fully aware of what kind of identity the one before her held. Wu Gui was by no means someone the Dark Knight Cavalry could oppose.
"Buddhist Ancestor Wu Gui." She then looked at Wu Gui and said, "This time, His Excellency is pouring all his efforts into attacking Star Realm. The destruction of this realm is imminent, so why must you involve yourself in this mess?"
But what kind of personality did Wu Gui have? When had she ever cared about a mere mortal's words? She immediately sneered, "It's not your place to lecture me."
Red Tail gritted her teeth and was about to say something else, but a loud sound came from behind her.
"Charge!"
"Have you gone mad?!" Red Tail couldn't help turning around and cursing, but what entered her sight was the image of the Dark Knight Cavalry without a single person retreating.
She turned back again and saw Ren Dongzhan's figure charging forward without hesitation even though he couldn't withstand even a single blow from Wu Gui.
The sneer on Wu Gui's face became more pronounced, and she casually sent out a palm strike. The Buddhist and demonic intent intertwined, all of a sudden swelling up into a huge handprint that destroyed most of the Dark Knights.
But even so, Ren Dongzhan still revived again and led the remaining Dark Knights, charging at Wu Gui and picking up speed.
But anyone could tell that Ren Dongzhan's power had started to wane; it was clear that his resurrection wasn't without cost.
"Why…?" Red Tail was speechless for a while, completely unable to understand this senseless act of throwing his life away.
"Good job."
Just then, however, she heard an appreciative voice near her ears. She hurriedly turned to see Gu Nan already standing beside her.
"Learn from him." Gu Nan pointed at Ren Dongzhan in front of her and said to Red Tail, "Divine servants are meant to be sacrificed. Sooner or later, you'll have to kill a Star Ruler by throwing waves of expendable troops at them. You're too softhearted."